muller@market.alliant.com (Jim Muller) (02/21/90)
After all the comments on the value or potential excess of engineering, I'll send out some comments similar to the ones I sent to Kirk after his first posting on the subject. First, let's remember that this was prompted by a column in 1970 (if I remember right) by Ken Purdy. Question: Did K.P. have some tendency to national bias? Did he have a particular philosophical bent? I don't know his stuff well enough now to answer that, but maybe someone with an older C&D (Sports Cars Illustrated?) subcription than mine can look up a few of his columns. (Mine goes back only about 19 years.) My recollection though is that he was known as being rather opinionated. Question: What factories in the U.K., Germany, and Italy was K.P. talking about? Which did his tours cover? In Germany, it was most likely Porsche and Mercedes Benz, but possibly VW and a few others. This was probably near VW's height of success, they very much infused with a wonderful small-guy-can-do-big-things attitude. The other two (and also the possible BMW and Opel) were aiming at, and hitting, a much higher-priced market segment than what he *likely* visited in the U.K or Italy, i.e. Standard-Triumph, BMC (by then both part of B-L), and Fiat, with a possible excursion to Alfa-Romeo. A-R has always been a smaller-volume builder with a touch of personal whimsy, and the other three concerns are the basic Ford/GM/Chrysler type of company. B-L in particular were not exactly a model of corporate management or labor relations skill at that time, nor in very good financial condition. So we should take both K.P.'s potential bias and the smaple of his visits into account. Now, it is certainly possible for some national "technique" or philosophy to have been at work, possibly the result of recent (at that time) history. The British industry did evolve in an attitude of experimentation and simplistic yet effective solutions. The German industry was bootstrapping itself from WWII, and probably had/has a natural tendency to more organization that lends itself to an engineering approach. Italy has produced its share of art over the centuries, and Italian industry can be expected to be inspiration-driven sometimes. As someone whose familial roots go back in a few generations to Italy and Germany (but decidedly not Britain), I spent a great deal of time pondering these things when I was younger. Just how much these stereotypes of style really affect the cars, I won't bet money on either yea or nay. But it does seem as if K.P.'s personal views and his sample may have affected his conclusions. And as Wayne and Dale pointed out, engineering style is very different from the actual points of tradeoff a manufacturer chooses. Results may be good or bad, even for an over-produced product. But I don't think that was what K.P.'s article, or Kirk's original post, was about. Me? I just like to drive my Spitfire. I don't want a pickle. Jim Muller